Raut is an Indian caste.

The Rauts are mainly found in the Chhatisgarh state, and the neighbouring states of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

 and Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

. Traditionally, they were predominantly distributed in the districts of Durg

Durg District

Durg District is situated in Chattisgarh state of India. Until 2000 it formed part of Madhya Pradesh. District headquarters is Durg. The district covers an area of 8,537 km². The population in 1991 was 2, 397,134 of which 12.4% were members of scheduled tribes...

, Raipur

Raipur District

Raipur district is a district in the Chhattisgarh state of India. Raipur is the administrative headquarter of the district. The district is rich in mineral resources. There are many wild life sanctuaries and sight seeing places worth visiting...

, Bastar

Bastar District

Bastar District is a district of the state of Chhattisgarh in central India. Jagdalpur is the district headquarters. The district has an area of 8755.79 km²...

, Nagpur

Nagpur District

Nagpur district is a district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nagpur is the district headquarters. The district is part of Nagpur Division....

 and Bhandara

Bhandara district

Bhandara district is an administrative district in the state of Maharashtra in India. The district headquarters are located at Bhandara. The district occupies an area of 3890 km² and has a population of 1,135,835 of which 15.47% are urban . It is fondly called as the 'District of Lakes'...

.

History

Traditionally, the Rauts were involved in herding and milking the cattle. Like many other cowherding castes of India, they claim descent from the ancient Yadu

Yadu

Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...

 tribe through Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

. As such, they are often considered a sub-caste of the larger Ahir caste. According to historian Robert Vane Russell, the word Rawat is a corruption of Rajputra ("princeling").

Culture

The Raut men traditionally performed the local folk epic Candaini (or Chandaini) in a combination of dance and song. The epic tells the story of princess Candaini, who leaves her impotent husband and falls in love with a common man Lorik. Both the characters are from the Raut caste, and the epic seems to have originated in this caste. As late as 1980, the Candaini performers used to be primarily from the Raut caste, but now people from other communities also take part in the performances.